Please Give2010
Dir: Nicole Holofcener
Thank God for films by Nicole Holofcener, and thank God for a Nicole Holofcener film at MIFF. I couldn't have asked for a better film to begin my Sunday and to mark the half way-ish mark of MIFF 2010.
Set in New York (there's that favourite city of mine again!) a husband - Alex (Oliver Platt) and wife - Kate (Catherine Keener) run a vintage furniture store, selling overpriced pieces bought cheap from the children of deceased people. While Alex can shrug this off as business the guilt begins to eat away at Kate and she continually searches for ways to help the less fortunate. In a city consumed with real estate Kate and Alex purchase the apartment next door to theirs with plans to expand, the only problem being they have to wait for its resident, Andra (the fabulous Ann Morgan Guilbert) to die. In the interim Kate, Alex and their daughter Abby (the extremely likeable Sarah Steele) form various relationships with Andra and her granddaughters Rebecca (Rebecca Hall) and Mary (Amanda Peet).
Holofcener has a certain style to her films and perhaps you either love them or you don't; I fall into the first category but have had many discussions (arguments) when people tell me how bad Friends With Money was, pfft whatever! (Please note the very mature reaction there.) What I love about her films and what's present in this film is her witty dialogue; the mention of various characters asking Rebecca 'Have you seen the leaves yet?' a perfect example. The first time is funny, the multiple times it is asked of her becomes a hilarious running joke, until at last Rebecca sees "the leaves" and in a way lets go of her past. Holofcener's characters are also realistic, though they may not always be likeable, Andra is a fabulously annoying old woman who continually complains and insults people, but is so much fun to watch on screen.
I feel like a fangirl when talking about Holofcener's films - it's hard not to gush and to actually write something with a bit of intelligence to it. I feel like I have failed, needless to say this is on my list of best films of MIFF 2010, if you enjoy comedy dramas of the highest quality add this to your list pronto!
Please Give opens nationally on September 9th.
Please Give opens nationally on September 9th.
The Woman With The 5 Elephants
2009
Dir: Vadim Jendreyko
I suppose like a middle child, my middle film of the day suffered a little from neglect of attention. I had scoffed down a thoroughly unhealthy snack in the time between movie #1 and this film and was unfortunately seated next to a man who smelt of mothballs. So the world was against me when it came to the documentary about a truly wonderful woman, Swetlana Geier.
Swetlana left the Ukraine with her mother following WWII and the death of her father after being imprisoned. Her mother told her she should learn a second language, German, and that this would be her ticket to freedom. Wiser words were never spoken as Swetlana's skills were used and ultimately aided her and her mother in their move. Throughout the years she taught at university but her latest work is perhaps the most interesting. She translates Russian literature into German, the main focus of this doco being Dostoyevsky. She calls his five major novels his ‘elephants’. Sixty-five years after leaving the Ukraine Swetlana returns for a visit - this documentary capturing the moments.
Swetlana is an amazing woman, her attitude, the stories she has to tell - she is a captivating woman to hear talk. My main interest in seeing this doco was that my family on my mother's side left the Ukraine following WWII also, but are no longer here to tell the story - and certainly could not tell their story with the grace Swetlana does - the way she describes things, her words truly belong in the pages of a Dostoyevsky novel. Perhaps the documentary gets weighed down in direction, the filmmaker being present in a voiceover didn't sit right with me and the lack of balance between Swetlana talking and actual footage of her return to the Ukraine at times slowed the film down. Swetlana's story is worth watching this doco for, but I understand why this was apparently a "sleeper" hit at the Vienna and Rotterdam film festivals. Wait for it on SBS.
The Woman with the 5 Elephants plays again at MIFF on Wednesday August 4th.
Little Sparrows
2010
Dir: Yu-Hsiu Camille Chen
Perhaps I was a little quick to call Little Sparrows the worst film I had seen at MIFF thus far, and perhaps by using the words 'worst film' that implies it's a bad movie. In truth, I've been quite fortunate with my picks this year and nothing has caused me to walk out of a session... yet.
This feature debut from Perth filmmaker Yu-Hsiu Camille Chen tells the story of Susan (the incredible Nicola Bartlett) and the impact her returning cancer has on her family; husband James, and daughters Nina (Nina Deasley), Anna (Melanie Hunt) and Christine (Arielle Gray).
What I wasn't expecting from this film was a faux documentary straight to camera style spliced with the traditional storytelling. Apart from distracting me from the action I felt it completely unnecessary to give the characters this direct voice to the audience. Couple this with some artistic though random shots of the ocean, a beautiful sunset, horses in a field and there were many instances where the fact that this is a feature debut was blaringly obvious.
My main problem with the direction of this film was the sharp editing in the scenes where we should have felt the most for characters; they were often cut short, blurred and messily handled in my opinion. In particular, the scene where Anna reveals something to her husband is laughable when the desired reaction was surely meant to be the opposite.
The acting is good, though Bartlett as the mother is clearly the glue holding this film together. Some of the supporting actors, Anna's husband Mark (Scott Jackson) in particular moved from convincing to caricature within seconds. The end result is a film exploring loss and growth as a child when losing a parent but is not a film that packs an emotional punch and perhaps wades into sentimentality through cliched dialogue between mother and daughters. A fine debut but it will be the next films from Yu-Hsiu Camille Chen I'm interested in.
I suppose like a middle child, my middle film of the day suffered a little from neglect of attention. I had scoffed down a thoroughly unhealthy snack in the time between movie #1 and this film and was unfortunately seated next to a man who smelt of mothballs. So the world was against me when it came to the documentary about a truly wonderful woman, Swetlana Geier.
Swetlana left the Ukraine with her mother following WWII and the death of her father after being imprisoned. Her mother told her she should learn a second language, German, and that this would be her ticket to freedom. Wiser words were never spoken as Swetlana's skills were used and ultimately aided her and her mother in their move. Throughout the years she taught at university but her latest work is perhaps the most interesting. She translates Russian literature into German, the main focus of this doco being Dostoyevsky. She calls his five major novels his ‘elephants’. Sixty-five years after leaving the Ukraine Swetlana returns for a visit - this documentary capturing the moments.
Swetlana is an amazing woman, her attitude, the stories she has to tell - she is a captivating woman to hear talk. My main interest in seeing this doco was that my family on my mother's side left the Ukraine following WWII also, but are no longer here to tell the story - and certainly could not tell their story with the grace Swetlana does - the way she describes things, her words truly belong in the pages of a Dostoyevsky novel. Perhaps the documentary gets weighed down in direction, the filmmaker being present in a voiceover didn't sit right with me and the lack of balance between Swetlana talking and actual footage of her return to the Ukraine at times slowed the film down. Swetlana's story is worth watching this doco for, but I understand why this was apparently a "sleeper" hit at the Vienna and Rotterdam film festivals. Wait for it on SBS.
The Woman with the 5 Elephants plays again at MIFF on Wednesday August 4th.
Little Sparrows2010
Dir: Yu-Hsiu Camille Chen
Perhaps I was a little quick to call Little Sparrows the worst film I had seen at MIFF thus far, and perhaps by using the words 'worst film' that implies it's a bad movie. In truth, I've been quite fortunate with my picks this year and nothing has caused me to walk out of a session... yet.
This feature debut from Perth filmmaker Yu-Hsiu Camille Chen tells the story of Susan (the incredible Nicola Bartlett) and the impact her returning cancer has on her family; husband James, and daughters Nina (Nina Deasley), Anna (Melanie Hunt) and Christine (Arielle Gray).
What I wasn't expecting from this film was a faux documentary straight to camera style spliced with the traditional storytelling. Apart from distracting me from the action I felt it completely unnecessary to give the characters this direct voice to the audience. Couple this with some artistic though random shots of the ocean, a beautiful sunset, horses in a field and there were many instances where the fact that this is a feature debut was blaringly obvious.
My main problem with the direction of this film was the sharp editing in the scenes where we should have felt the most for characters; they were often cut short, blurred and messily handled in my opinion. In particular, the scene where Anna reveals something to her husband is laughable when the desired reaction was surely meant to be the opposite.
The acting is good, though Bartlett as the mother is clearly the glue holding this film together. Some of the supporting actors, Anna's husband Mark (Scott Jackson) in particular moved from convincing to caricature within seconds. The end result is a film exploring loss and growth as a child when losing a parent but is not a film that packs an emotional punch and perhaps wades into sentimentality through cliched dialogue between mother and daughters. A fine debut but it will be the next films from Yu-Hsiu Camille Chen I'm interested in.
LITTLE_SPARROWS_TEASER_XMAS from Camille Chen on Vimeo.
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